winter_rules

Grass is covered in the hills of the northern Catskills. Down to 24° and looking mighty wintry outside!

a) Apparently wearing a mask IS too much to ask of the American people these days. b) I agree with both of you guys here. World shutdowns seem extreme for the level of danger of this particular virus, BUT how F’ing hard is it to wear a mask? I have been diligent to wear one in public since March, mainly for the selfish reason of wanting to keep things as normal as possible! c) I’m a registered Republican but I’m glad the freak show is on his way out of office, even if he doesn’t think he is yet. I’m just really hoping Republicans can be smart enough to field a reasonable candidate in 2024. I believe that if either party fields a semi-moderate candidate with a decent background they’ll win in a landslide, relatively speaking. Like 52-48.

Last year my 89yr old grandmother wrote a few pages about her childhood, which included growing up with essentially all products being rationed during WWII. I talked to her about how the spoiled babies in today’s society would handle that type of inconvenience. We did not realize we would get a *little* taste of it this year....

That’s interesting in itself, outside of COVID. Where did all these people go who would otherwise “need” healthcare in any other year? Have the heart attack and stroke deaths increased significantly this year because people are afraid to go to a hospital? That was a discussion back in the spring but I haven’t heard anything since then. Elective surgeries must be way down, too. Hmmm.....

It has taken me 35 years and 3 kids to get to this point, but I’m finally embracing Joe Basardi’s old phrase: “Enjoy the weather. It’s the only weather you’ve got.” It’s a bit silly, but a good motto for all of us on this forum.

Honestly, I’m happy to have something different than the past few Novembers. Hopefully winter will be different than the past few years, too. I’m going to test his hypothesis about planting grass in an area I recently disturbed! As someone else on here recently mentioned, 10 degrees above average right now is beautiful weather, but 10 degrees below average is just miserable!

Everybody at my office who has voted this morning, including myself, has commented about how many more people were at the polls than usual (all before 7am). Factor in all the mail-in ballots and this could be interesting.....

Looks like a great house, and it will be a lot more convenient than your old place!

To be fair, I think we are all hoping for a repeat of that one!

That sounds good to me. Anything other than a cold/snowy November followed by a warm/rainy December into January which has been the general story the last few years.

I don’t like how they do this. The 10 of us on this weather forum understand why they are not showing frost advisories for the rest of the counties in upstate NY, but the 15 people in my office think there will be a frost in those counties but no frost in the counties where they don’t show a frost advisory.

The forecast changes over the last few days have been a good winter preseason reminder for all of us that: a) The models will constantly show cold air *just* around the corner, and; b) The models will show multiple large lake effect events which will dwindle to a minor event, probably in a different location, once the event actually takes place. I’m not trying to be negative, but the 7-10 day forecast often looks cold and/or snowy, only for it to fade as we get closer to those actual dates. Then the process starts over again....

Same thing in the Catskills. The changes have been visible almost daily the last few days.

If I’m thinking of the correct year, we had a thaw around Christmas and all that snow was reduced to leftover snow piles around the end of December....at least around the I81/I90 interchange where I was working at the time.

4th consecutive morning between 25° and 28°. Seems like an appropriate way to head into Autumn! Looking forward to some warm sunny days later this week to warm the house back up....

25° this morning! Several degrees colder than expected. Gorgeous outside as the sun is starting to reveal the white covering on everything. Growing season officially over in the Northern Catskills.

Very interesting. I guess I didn’t realize how far inland the effect of the warm lake water really extended in the Rochester/Buffalo areas. I lived about 4 miles East of Pulaski (very close to where Wolfie just moved from) and it seemed like Lake Ontario really only influenced surface temps In the area from roughly I81 West toward the lake. By the time you were a mile or two East of I81 you were mostly away from the biggest surface temp influence. Slowly gaining elevation toward the East probably plays a bigger role than I realized.

I’m shocked to hear this. In the northern Catskills we almost always have a frost by the 2nd half of September. It’s not uncommon to have a frost in late August or early September. This year it was Sept 15th (Tuesday) which seems about normal. NWS Bing AFD mentions “high rural valleys” which describes us well. I did not think there would be a 4-6 week difference....probably would have guessed +/-2 weeks. Leaves are turning in the hills, but they’re pretty dull thus far.

That’s awesome. I seriously considered that area (as well as Boise, ID) as I was getting done with college but we ended up staying in upstate NY where our families are. With 3 little kids it is great to be around family, but when winter comes around I really wonder if I made the right decision....

Agreed. I trust very little of what I hear on the news or read online, including this forum, but I do trust people I know stating facts about their families. It’s not guaranteed to be truthful every time, but it stands a better chance of being truthful than almost anywhere else.

BW, I’m mainly just a lurker on this forum, but you seem to have a good head on your shoulders and I appreciate your regular posts about weather and trips to the Adirondacks. I’m sorry to hear about your mother’s situation - there’s not much worse in the world than helplessly watching a parent fight a bad disease. On top of that, your wife must be very frustrated about her employment. 2020 has been rough for you. I wish the best of luck to the two most important women in your life! In relation to your wife’s employment, what are the latest statewide numbers for deaths and hospitalizations relative to positive tests? People near Oneonta are freaking out because college kids are not practicing social distancing (what a shock...). There are now 65 current cases in Otsego County, but zero hospitalizations. I can’t help but wonder if the virus has mutated to cause a less serious illness? Not one person in my social/work circle has contracted the virus in months, but I have heard, 2nd hand, of two local situations of an older person dying of other causes but the families finding COVID on the death certificate! Both families are fighting to get that changed, but you know the statistics won’t be updated to remove a few deaths. I’m not a conspiracy nut, but I am starting to wonder about how much of a role politics is playing in this pandemic. That’s a very scary situation if it’s true....

I was looking for a little CRF50/70/110 for my 7yr old but they are so overpriced on the used market that he’ll be waiting a year. I plan to keep my eyes open over the next year or two when some of these ATVs/SxS/dirt bikes are for sale with hardly any use. Hoping to upgrade for cheap. Even thought of selling my 2001 Sportsman 500 right now while the market is up, but I can’t go a winter without it....it’s my firewood hauler.

We have seen our grocery bill explode this year. Whether it’s from supply and demand, price gouging (which is basically supply and demand, right?), one thing is for sure: Most prices that increased recently won’t go back to “pre-pandemic” levels ever again. Go up 15%, maybe go back down to the equivalent of “only” a 5-10% increase?

As a winter sports enthusiast, I have finally learned to accept this seemingly new reality. My mind has shifted to hoping for a few decent storms and forgetting about any type of consistent “average winter temps” to maintain a decent snowcover away from Adirondack high peaks. Hope for a few decent storms as a bonus, otherwise expect 35-40° highs and grey skies for 4-6 months.

We got two rounds of rain between 4am and about 8am which resulted in exactly 2in of rain. There was a ton of close lightning (and loud thunder) associated with both rounds. There’s a surprising amount of energy associated with these storms. Including today’s rain (thus far) we have now received 4.5in since Tuesday morning.